Fifth OECD Forum on Tax Administration: Paris Communiqué

The fifth meeting of the OECD’s Forum on Tax Administration was held in Paris on 28-29 May 2009, bringing together more than 100 participants from 34 OECD and non-OECD countries.

The discussions focused on the challenges and opportunities currently facing revenue bodies and taxpayers around the world as a result of the first truly global financial and economic crisis. Working alongside senior business leaders, the heads of revenue bodies from FTA participating countries came together to share experiences and expertise to strengthen the responses of individual revenue bodies and to develop new joint initiatives. As a result of the discussions those participating agreed to continue to:

Work together to improve tax administration, taxpayer services and tax compliance – both nationally and internationally.

Promote strong corporate governance in the area of tax.

Support tax administrations in developing economies.

Further details on the outcomes from the meeting can be found in the Paris Communiqué.

This report sets out the conclusions of the OECD study that examined the role of banks in the provision of aggressive tax planning arrangements. It examines the nature of banking, the complex structured financing transactions developed by banks and how they are then used by both banks and their clients. The report also examines the internal governance processes used by banks to manage tax risk and the prevention, detection and response strategies applied by different revenue bodies in responding to the challenges that banks pose. The report makes a number of recommendations for revenue bodies and identifies best practices for consideration by banks.

This report sets out the conclusions of the OECD’s study on tax compliance within the High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) taxpayer segment. The report concludes that HNWIs pose significant challenges to tax administrations because of the complexity of their affairs, their revenue contribution, the opportunity for aggressive tax planning, and the impact of their compliance behaviour on the integrity of the tax system. The study found that by focussing resources on the HNWI segment, significant improvements in compliance can be achieved.